About LIRA

Our Mission

Through education and advocacy, we aim to eliminate the negative public perception around addiction, achieve full parity with treatment and recovery support services on demand for those seeking help. We strive to ensure that A compassionate, well-informed understanding of addiction as a chronic medical condition becomes the norm.
Addiction is a public health issue, the evolving science behind addiction is finally driving a system change away from a cruel and failed criminal justice focus to a healthcare approach.

The absence of individuals in recovery on the public stage has has long been attributed in part to the erroneous belief that members of 12 step programs cannot advocate publicly. In fact after the release of the Anonymous People film in 2013 the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous released a statement referencing their very own literature clarifying that should they decide to do so, members could talk openly in public about their recovery and advocate as long as they did not identify themselves as a member of the group. We are hopeful that this clarifying statement will compel many of our friends in communities across America to join us we continue to emerge as a constituency of consequence.

Based on a recent survey (2012) It is estimated that at least 250,000 people are living in sustained recovery here on Long Island. LIRA provides a face and a potent voice to a rather large recovery constituency on Long Island.

In addition to individuals in recovery, the membership of LIRA includes family members, political figures, teachers, healthcare and treatment professionals, retired citizens, civil servants, business owners, white- and blue-collar workers, and those interested in a better society in general.
At the core of LIRA is a group of passionate, dedicated individuals, leading the drive for equality and a voice on the public policy front.